Writing heals

It might be surprising to all that journaling can be a powerful tool for self-healing. Writing a journal can help you identify the root cause of many issues as well as facilitate tools and strength that one needs to overcome several challenges of life.

Journaling helps us identify what’s truly going on with us, so we can get past all the baggage that we have been carrying around and experience our true, authentic, healthy self — the true self that we came into this world with.

Each of us is suffering from emotional pain, however if you want to enhance the healing power, which is within us, we just need to explore it and consider something as simple as picking up a pen.

A healthy physical process means intake of food and water from our environment, process it for nutrients, and then expel the wastes. Similarly, a healthy emotional process means we take in our life experiences, process them for nutrients, and find what we need to grow and survive and then expel the garbage. However many of us simply hold onto our emotions, storing them in our bodies and become emotionally constipated, unable to let go of that which is not helping us in any way. Eventually, when our system or our body gets too tired, we get sick. We will not be able to function or perform as we should. We become lethargic, unresponsive and depressed. It is very necessary to keep the flow of our experiences that help us stay emotionally healthy. Regular writing is one of the ways of accomplishing this.

Free Flow Writing — Just flow with yourself:
This pattern of journaling  is the most classic. Whenever there is a feeling of confusion or being stuck, start writing whatever comes from within till the time you feel it’s over.  Free writing is a way of writing everything that comes to the mind. Your pen never leaves the page so you end up writing the whole situation. Free flow writing can help you reveal a lot about a situation that’s confusing you.

Use of Free Writing:

• Access your thoughts on papers.
• Expand your perception on a situation which may be clouding your judgement.
• Recognise your emotions and understand the root cause for the same.

How to Start:

• Get your journal or a writing tool out (a journaling app on your computer or your phone) preferably take a notebook and your favorite pen.
• Set a timer of at least 15 minutes.
• Write for the entire time which you allotted, it may be possible that you would be confused about what to write initially. Start writing, “I don’t know what to write, I don’t know what to write” over and over. There will be a lot of emotions inside you which will surface naturally with words or sentences.
• When the timer will buzz, take a deep cleansing breath. Then take a look at your journal and get some perspective. You will face some questions like — what is affecting you? What needs do you want to address? Is there someone you need to talk to about a situation?
• If you are looking for more outcome, reset the timer and write again. Repeat these steps until you gain some perspective or until your stress has eased.

Tips:

• At the initial stage set your timer for 15 minutes — no more no less.  It takes off the pressure. It’s ok if you don’t get everything out. Gradually you will get all your emotions on paper.
• If you don’t find something to start your journal with, start with how you are feeling and why. This will always take you somewhere.
• If you tend to get overwhelmed or impatient, this exercise might be a struggle. But gradually it will help you become patient, calm and more importantly, emotionally relaxed.

Love Response Technique:

• Today many people struggle with deeply ingrained beliefs like they are not deserving. These beliefs come from continuously being taught that they are not good enough.
• Not everyone comes from an abusive family. In fact, many people came from loving families. However, unknowingly they were projecting their own fears onto us.
• To stop the cycle of self-loathing, we have to learn how to respond to the child we were in a more loving way.

The writer is an alternative medicine practitioner